LINNET. PASSERES. FRINGILLA. 215 
Bluthanfling, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. v. 8. p. 141.—Jd. Tasschenb. Deut. 
p- 121.— Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. v. 1. p. 163.—Jd. Vég. Deut. v. 1. Sian ok 
t. f. 1. and 2.Frisch. Vig. t. 9. f. 1. and 2. A ie 
Greater Redpole or Red-headed Linnet, Br. Zool. 1. No. 131. t. 54.— Mal A 
Arct. Zool. 2. No. 161.—IWill. (Ang.) 260.—Lewin’s Br. Birds, 2. t. 84. Se Ss 
—Lath. Syn. 3. p. 304.—Id. Sup. p. 167.— Wale. Syn. 2. t. 222.—Puilt. Geant 
Cat. Dorset. p. 12.—Bewick’s Br. Birds, v. 1. t. p. 173.—Id. Sup. p.- plumage. 
t. 22. 
Provincial, Greater Redpole, Rose Linnet, Grey Linnet. 
This bird has been considered by most of our authors as Erroneous- 
Linnet and the Greater Redpole. This error has evidently een 
two distinct species, under the titles of the Common or Brown tW° spe- 
arisen from the altered appearance it bears at particular ages, a 
and during the different seasons of the year. These changes 
in all probability had not been suspected, as they certainly 
had not been traced by the earlier naturalists, and on the au- 
thority of their reputation, succeeding writers sanctioned such 
mistakes, without giving themselves the trouble of further in- 
vestigation, till Monracu, who united practical research 
with scientific knowledge, professed (in the Ornithological 
Dictionary) his conviction of their forming but one species; and 
my own observation and experiments tend to confirm his opi- 
nion. Mr Bewicx, however, in the Supplement to his work 
on British Birds, still continues to believe in the existence of 
two distinct species, for so we must understand him (although 
he has brought the synonymes of the two supposed species 
together), since in a note following the description and figure 
of his greater redpole or brown linnet, he says that “ it loses 
the red breast in autumn, and regains it in spring; in this it 
differs from the grey linnet, whose plumage remains the same 
at all seasons.” From his description of the Grey Linnet (the 
usual Northumbrian name of this bird) as given in the first. 
volume of his work, it can be no other than the common or 
brown linnet of a particular age, although he has attached to 
it the LinNEAN synonymes of the lesser redpole. | 
_ If Mr Bewicx’s observations on the plumage of the linnet 
were made upon caged birds, I am not surprised at his asser- 
tion of its always retaining the same appearance, for I have 
s 2 
